Market Commentary - 2nd Quarter 2017

Markets were generally up as sentiment improved and easy monetary policies continued to be in effect through the quarter. U.S. stocks were up 3.09% on positive employment and strong corporate earnings. Emerging Markets, up 6.27%, benefitted from a weakening dollar through the quarter. The Federal Reserve raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 1.00% in June after previously raising it by the same amount in March. Mutual fund investors increased their holdings of stocks and bonds. For the quarter, stocks had a net inflow of $55.1 million while bonds had a new inflow of $93.7 million. Total money market mutual fund assets decreased by $32 billion to $2.6 trillion. Total employment increased by 460,000 jobs this quarter, and the unemployment rate fell from 4.5% to 4.4%. The price of oil fell from $51 to $46 a barrel through the quarter.